Ch'en Yi

Ch'en Yi (26 August 1901-6 January 1972) was the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China from 1958 to 1972, succeeding Zhou Enlai and preceding Ji Pengfei. He was also a general of the People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War, and was the victor of the decisive Battle of Xuzhou in 1948-49.

Biography
Ch'en Yi was born on 26 August 1901 in Lezhi County, Sichuan, in Qing Dynasty-era China, not far from Chengdu. Ch'en Yi knew fellow communist Lin Biao since they were both guerrilla commanders during the Chinese Civil War, and he led the New Fourth Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1948-49 he commanded the Chinese communist armies in the lower Yangtze River region, and from November 1948 to January 1949, Ch'en Yi inflicted a shattering defeat on the Kuomintang at the Battle of Xuzhou, the decisive battle of the war. From 1949 to 1958 he was the Mayor of Shanghai, and in 1958, he succeeded Zhou Enlai as the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China. During the Cultural Revolution (from 1967), he was criticized, but he never lost his post. Zhou Enlai acted as Foreign Minister, but after Lin Biao's death in 1971, Ch'en Yi was restored to grace. When he died in 1972, Mao Zedong made his last public appearance at his funeral, and it was the only funeral of a general that he attended during the Cultural Revolution.